Module Title: Managing Installation and Maintenance Operation

Module code: EIS IEC4 M01 1023

Nominal duration: 30Hour

This module covers the units:

•Develop operational plan
•Plan and schedule work activities
•Plan and manage resource acquisition
•Monitor and review operations
•Review and evaluate work performance
 1.Research, Analyze Resource Requirement
For the development of an operational plan, an organization needs to be able to
research, analyze and document the resources on the following points:
•The duration of the project; when it will start and the aim of completion. This
should include current and upcoming desired and clear goals. Time frames should be
set at the start with clear plans about the project.
•Financial resources; how much fund is currently available to sustain the project and
any risk that may occur in the funding needs to be identified prior.
•Human resource and other capacity requirements; evaluate the labour and the skills
needed and available that are important to complete the project. It is important to
consider where the human resources will come from and how many staff are
required.
•Quantitative and qualitative data are gathered for the operational plan of the
project. In addition, there can be meetings; formal or informal. While informal
meetings can be held anytime and anywhere, formal meetings require a safe and
controlled environment
 1.Consultation processes
The basic concept of process consultation is defined and compared to other major
consultation concepts. Process consultation is a philosophy about and attitude
toward the process of helping individuals, groups, organizations, and communities .
Process consultation is the key philosophical underpinning to organizational learning
and development in that most of what the consultant does in helping organizations is
based on the central assumption that one can only help a human system to help itself.
Process Consultation is the creation of a relationship with the client that permits the
client to perceive, understand, and act on the process events that occur in the client's
internal and external environment in order to improve the situation as defined by the
client.
 An organizational consultant is working with managers to improve some aspects of the
organization; the same fundamental dynamics are involved.
Modes of consulting
Consulting is characterized by different approaches which reflect fundamental
assumptions about the consultant’s role.
All managers have their own approach to the tasks they face and the way they deal
with people.
These are referred to as modes.
 Process Consultation, characterized three basic modes based on the relationship
between the consultant and the client: the expert, the doctor–patient and the process
consulting modes
•The expert mode
In the expert mode the client identifies a particular problem with the business,
analyses the problem and articulates it to the consultant. The consultant then uses
their expertise to identify a solution to the problem. This form of consulting is often
found in areas where the consultant has a specialist knowledge which the client
organization recognizes that it lacks.
•The doctor–patient mode
The doctor–patient mode is also characterized by the consultant acting as an expert.
In this mode, however, the consultant also takes responsibility for diagnosing the
problem in the first place.
Again, the consultant is expected to contribute specialist knowledge and insights to
the business.
The process consulting mode
Both the expert mode and the doctor–patient mode demand that the consultant, an
outsider, offers a well-considered, expert solution – a prescription – to address the
problems that business faces.
The process of consultation is an extremely important concept in the context of
managing an organization. Organizations exist to create value for stakeholders and
consultation is a process by which the management of the organization aims to
better understand the needs, wants and expectations of stakeholders, so that value
can be created.
Consultation is an active process in which organization management opens formal
and informal communication channels between the organization and its
stakeholders.
•These formal and informal communication channels might include:
Open meetings e.g. stakeholders are invited to come to an open meeting or a series of
meetings
Surveys e.g. stakeholders are invited to complete a survey (paper or online type)
Focus group e.g. a select cross-section of stakeholders, small in number, are invited to
attend a meeting or series of meetings
Invitation to send a written response e.g. stakeholders are invited to submit comments in
writing on a proposal or plan
Informal meetings e.g. organization management might mingle with people at an event a
canvass certain ideas and see what response they get .
The purpose of consultation
To invite stakeholders to provide advice to the management of the organization about their
needs, wants and expectations. In other words, tell the organization what value it wants and
how it can provide this value.
To invite stakeholders to comment on plans that have been created by organization
management to provide this value requested by stakeholders.
To quell any criticism that organization management have not taken account of, or are not
listening to the needs of stakeholders in developing strategic and operational plans.
Setting an Operational Plan without consultation disadvantages the organization because:
A lack of consultation fails to take advantage of all available knowledge and expertise
A lack of consultation makes people feel left out and creates negativity toward the
emerging plan.
 1.Developing Operational plan
1.An operational plan
1.An operational plan outlines the tasks each employee will need to
carry out to accomplish the goals laid out in the strategic plan.
•Steps in how to do an operational plan should incorporate the following as you
outline your strategy:
Develop a strategic plan.
Prioritize your goals.
Use leading indicators.
Draw on your organization.
Communication is key.
An operational plan outlines the tasks each employee will need to carry out to
accomplish the goals laid out in the strategic plan. The operations section of a
business plan expands on the company:
•Objectives.
•Timeline.
Procedures.
 1.Creating an Effective Operational Plan
1.The best operational plans have a clearly articulated
objective that everyone in your company is focused on
achieving. Your operational plan will, therefore, be a
useful document for your investors. However, it can also
help you and your employees by encouraging you to think
carefully about deadlines and tactics.
•Steps create an operations plan for your small business
Step 1: Examine your organization's vision. ...
Step 2: Define the goals and strategy. ...
Step 3: Plan out activities. ...
Step 4: Assign roles and responsibilities. ...
Step 5: Monitor and adjust
•The operations plan should provide answers to the following questions:
•Which personnel and departments are responsible?
•What tasks is each employee or department responsible for?
•Where precisely will daily operations occur?
•How much should be budgeted to each department to complete these tasks?
•What are the deadlines for the completion of each task?
An operational plan must have clearly articulated goals. This section should state in
clear terms what the company's operational objectives are. Operational objectives
should be thought of as your plan to achieve your company's strategic objective. A good
operational objective should be:
•Measurable.
•Specific.
•Timely.
•Realistic.
 1.Steps to Create a Strong Operational Plan
1. Develop a Strategic Plan:You should already have a strong strategic
plan in place before you begin developing an operational plan since the
operational plan is the road map to achieving your strategic objectives.
2. Prioritize Your Goals:The simpler an operations plan is, the more likely it is to
succeed. Avoid creating an overly complicated operations plan by prioritizing your
goals and focusing on the most important ones.
3. Use Leading Indicators: It is important to choose the appropriate key
performance indicators, or KPIs. Leading indicators, or predictive measurements
that help you to project into the future, are more useful than lagging indicators or
measurements of the past, as they help you make adjustments as you go.
4. Draw on Your Organization:The KPIs you choose will be a critical component of
the entire organization's work over the next year.
5. Communication Is Key: It is critical that the entire organization understands why
your KPIs were chosen, how they will help you to achieve your objectives, and
what each employee's role is in working towards your stated objectives.
key performance indicators
A Key Performance Indicator is a measurable value that demonstrates how
effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs
at multiple levels to evaluate their success at reaching targets. High-level KPIs may
focus on the overall performance of the business, while low-level KPIs may focus
on processes in departments such as sales, marketing, HR, support and others.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are a set of performance measurements that
demonstrate how effectively an organization is achieving key objectives. KPIs not only
provide an organization with a focus for strategic and operational improvement, but a
way to compare achievements to similar organizations. To be effective, a KPI must be:
•Well-defined and quantifiable.
•Communicated throughout your organization and department.
•Crucial to achieving your goal. (Hence, key performance indicators.)
Applicable to your Line of Business (LOB) or department.
Develop and Implement Contingency plans
Contingency plans
The use of contingency plans is widespread and applies to any business venture.
Governments, for example, use them to prepare for disaster recovery or economic
disruption. If you’re not working on a contingency plan when you’re planning any
enterprise, then you’re opening yourself up to unnecessary risk.
Five step in contingency plan:
Identify and Prioritize Resources:
What Are the Key Risks?
Draft a Contingency Plan:
Share the Plan:
Revisit the Plan:
A contingency plan is a plan, and like any plan, it requires a great deal of research and
brain storming. And like any good plan, there are steps to take to make sure you’re doing
it right.
Identify and Prioritize Resources:Research your company and list its crucial resources,
such as teams, tools, facilities, etc., then prioritize that list from most important to least
important. What Are the Key Risks?Figure out where you’re vulnerable by meeting with
teams, executives and every other department in the organization to get a full picture of
what events could compromise your resources; hire an outside consultant, if necessary.
Draft a Contingency Plan: If you can, write a contingency plan for each risk that you
identified in the above steps, but start with what’s most critical to the life of your
organization. As time permits you can create a plan for everything on your list.
Whatever the plan, the thought behind each should be the steps necessary to resume
normal operation of the company, thinking about communications, people’s
responsibilities, timelines, etc.
 Share the Plan: When you’ve written the contingency plan and it’s been approved, the
next step is to make sure everyone in the organization has a copy. A contingency plan,
no matter how thorough, is not effective if it hasn’t been properly communicated.
Revisit the Plan: A contingency plan isn’t chiseled in stone. It must be revisited, revised
and maintained to reflect changes to the organization. As new employees, technologies
and resources enter the picture, the contingency plan must be updated to handle them
 1.Project Risk for Contingency Planning
2.When managing a project there are many entry points for risk that
need to be accounted for with a contingency plan. For example, there’s
the physical, as in loss due to damage to information, equipment or
facilities as a result of an accident or natural disaster.
1.Key Steps in Contingency Planning
2.Project managers are adept at creating contingency plans, as the
structure and actions are like many of the processes already familiar to
their profession. For instance, a contingency plan breaks down tasks to
get more detail and, in so doing, more control.
•The following are the key steps in contingency planning:
•Note where there are resources that can be used in an emergency. Also, note where
in your contingency plan these resources might be applied.
•Identify dates that if missed will negatively impact your plan, for example getting
approval from a group or committee that only meets every now and then.
•Know your contingency plan. Check for any weak links and strengthen them.
Identify any slack that you can find in it.
•See if you can find points in your plan where alternative routes can be taken, and
think through each one’s scenario to add flexibility to your plan.
•Use your experience to help you see patterns in your project’s ebb and flow of
activity to sharpen your plan.
•Areas where contingency planning is important are:
•Outsourcing human resources/ labour to cut down the cost used muti function
or skills. Contracting out then help to get a person with special knowledge and
skills to bring their input at a lower cost and some organizations may even look
into this strategy when an internal department has ceased functioning.
•Diversification of outcomes may help towards an achievable and profitable
end result when many departments help to contribute towards the final result.
Since the target is spread over a larger area, increase productivity from human
resources help to contribute towards a bigger outcome.
•Cheaper and lower quality products help to moderate the budget.
Globalization helps towards competition and cost effective strategies and
therefore more profit.
•Increasing sales or productions will increase profit. It is important to cater
needs and resources towards the customer service department providing
adequate training programs. By reinforcing their skills, it will help to reach key
performance indicators.
•Recycling and re-using is a strategy to raise the organizational social
responsibility towards the environment. Many customers are more inclined to
buy consciously to protect the environment from these organizations.
•Rental and hiring alternatives are better ways to get hold of cheap resources
than buying them. Negotiation helps to save on cost on the procurement of
these resources needed.
 1.Challenges of Contingency Planning
2.Like any plan, there are always challenges that managers need to think
about before and during the process of creating their contingency plans.
3.Implementation of a contingency plan
4.Here are the steps you need to follow in a contingency planning process.
Step 1: List down the key risks.
Step 2: Prioritize the Risks Based on Their Impact.
Step 3: Create Contingency Plans for Each Event.
Step 4: Share and Maintain the Plan